Racism in India

Yesteraday evening, after a game of Risk II with Aditya and SKG(friends from IIML for those who do not know them), myself, PP and SKG got into a discussion on problems we find in general in India. After wandering and trashing communists, TATA's, Birla's and Pratiba Patil, we did come across an interesting and disturbing aspect. Indians are highly racist. Racist not in the conventional sense where you discriminate against based on race but racist in the sense where discrimnation is based not on your abilities/qualifications.

The first and obvious instance is matrimonies. 90% of matrimonies feature either caste or the widely prevalent, "wanted fair, beautiful bride". I have no clue how Indians get fascinated with fairness. Are dark people not beautiful? Will a dark-colored woman make marriage life difficult? Or do fair women result in lower electricity bill due to their radiating light all around them. But we have the gumption to go all around saying that Indians are discriminated against.

The other major racism instance is while dealing with people from Africa. In India, there is a strong belief that people from Africa are inferior, lazy and quite recently I came across this one, drug junkies. And all these beliefs based on the observation of a small number of students who come to study in our colleges. The students, who lack of knowledge and communication skills in English, are mistaken and mislabeled as being dumb. And as far as drug junkies, it is just bull.

We complain about the treatment given to Md Haneef, who we presume to be innocent. But are we willing to extend the same trust in the hundreds of people languishing in Indian jails who go on for years even without seeing a trial? What about those who are victims of street justice which the lot of hindi news channels show us? Our media doesn't get into frenzy about it. I do not find interviews of the victims in newspapers. I am not saying that what's happening wtih Haneef is right, but that what's happening in India is also wrong.

P.S: Just started reading the book fooled by randomness. Will certainly publish a review once I am done with it.

Random stuff

Being sick, I have been reading blogs for the past few hours. Came across a few interesting one. Found one which is quite random like mine. The guy is actually tech guy. Another one who posts forwards which are interesting especially since I cannot get them at office. And I think I found Naga's blog.

Moreover got one really good one about blogging. It is a good one about what a person needs to start a blog. This guy in fact has 23 questions on what kind of person should blog. Going through made me realize that I need to know more about blogging software provided by google. So the cntl+shift+a makes a link.

These are the benefits of being sick. Got to watch a lot of movies on star movies. Especially liked Big Mamma 2. Really hilarious movie about a FBI investigator who dresses as an old and grossly fat lady to go undercover. Then I also watched a couple of telegu movies. But hopefully I will get well soon. Maybe, will get to see some apartments which could be rented out. And maybe, just maybe, NT will give us a treat.

Goals for the Year

I remember in march, when i stepped out of IIM, Lucknow, I had made a list of all the things I would like to do in the vacation. The list went something like this

1. Learn to drive a car
2. CFA level II preparation
3. Learn a musical instrument
4. Cooking
5. Travel and visit hometown
6. Jog and join a gym
   

Other than the CFA preparation, I had done nothing else. That sort of makes me think, should I make a list now? Will I be able to fulfill at least 50% of the goals that I have set for myself. And am I losing out the "joy of life" by focusing too much of goals and targets rather than enjoy the journey? Or is this a thought process that is a manifestation of an upset stomach?

These are the goals for the year for me

1. Lose some weight-at least 5K
   
2. Learn some basic cooking
3. Plan a proper holiday for a week before the year end
   

The short list would at least make me beleive that I can achieve these targets. Moreover it will at least make me focussed on something rather than diverting my attention to different goals in life.

Namesake

Ganguli/Ganguly is the anglicized name for Gangopadhyay. Thats one thing I have learned today. Thats what happens when you read "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri during office hours. Thats the amount of work I do at office today. Do not know where this kind of behavior will result in. Every time my MD came to my unit, he has always found me playing spider solitare.

Coming to the book, its amazing. But the view point is from that of an immigrant who has moved out of India. There is some recognition and identification with the protagonist but there is an element missing. Its not a complete identification with the character. Yet to find a character with whom I can identify with. The kind of character who still lives in India but still faces a disconnect with the Indian on the road. One who despises corruption but will pay to fasten the process of passport issuance. One who wants APJ to continue as president but will never turn up at a election. Waiting for that book and its been a long wait if you ask me.

Anyways hoping to read the last book of the Harry Potter series soon and watch Die Hard 4.0.
And the English use Cheers a lot. Came from The Namesake and phone calls with a analyst in UK. Every conversation with her always ends with a Cheers. Would have suspected that she drinks a glass a wine after every conversation if I did not know better.

A Is passive investment in IPO’s a viable strategy?

On June 11th, 2007, ET ran an article stating that investing 100 shares in all the IPO’s has resulted in a return of 72%. The following is an analysis on the same question with a different set of assumptions. Some of the assumptions in the article do not suit the general investment strategy followed by most retail investors. Most retail investors do not target owning 100 shares but rather go in for maximum number of shares they can apply in the limit of 1 lakh. And given the widely prevalent belief that the IPO’s are under priced, most of the issues are oversubscribed. The effective investment is then reduced below the 1 lakh limit. The following are the assumptions that are different from the analysis done by ET:

1. Instead of 100 shares in each IPO, the investor applies to shares worth 1 Lakh ruppees


2. The number of shares that the investor has on his portfolio would be in proportion to shares issued on a pro-rata basis if the issue is over-subscribed


3. The analysis will be performed from the view point of retail investors, non-QIB’s and QIB’s


4. The actual allocation is based on lot sizes and the results of an actual portfolio might vary slightly from the pro rata returns calculated


5. The retail investor deposits 1 lakh rupees for a small period of time(approximately 1 month) which also includes an excess amount over the value of shares allocated


6. The current prices that I have used are closing prices as on 20th June, 2007

The 11 issues covered in this year by ET are Advanta India, Asahi Songwon, Bhagwan Banquets (Bhagwati Banquets & Hotels Limited), Binani Cements, Fortis Health Care, ICRA, Insecticides India, MIC electronics, Nitin Fire and Orbit Corp. Some observations regarding these 11 stocks

1. 6 stocks are trading below their issue price


2. 3 issues were under subscribed in the retail segment


3. Out of the 5 stocks at market prices higher than issue price, 4 have holding period returns (HPR) of more than 100%

The result of this analysis shows that a passive investment strategy does give returns of around 17.3% rather than the high 72% as stated in the article. Moreover the non-retail segment following the same strategy would have resulted in negative return of -4.6%. The NIFTY in the same time period achieved a return of 11.2%. Hence in the current market conditions a passive investment strategy into IPO’s is not advisable.

Reference:
http://www.nseindia.com/ : Current prices and issue price
http://www.bseindia.com/ : Current prices and issue price
http://www.chittorgarh.com/ : Subscription details
http://www.moneycontrol.com/ : Subscription details